Squad keeps flash base

Cops renew lease despite 20 officers moving out

THE Queensland Police Service will continue to lease expensive corporate offices for its bikie-busting Rapid Action Patrol squad in Varsity Lakes despite officers working in other areas.

The Bulletin has been told QPS has renegotiated to extend the lease on its Varsity Lakes base, which RAP has occupied since 2014.

RAP is the major tenant in the modern $13 million threelevel commercial space, which can accommodate about 300 vehicles in its basement.

“RAP has a floor there for over 100 police and administrative staff. It was all refitted with lockers and computers,” a police source said. “It has all the latest electrical equipment. The tenancy has been renewed. But did they consider this might be a waste of taxpayer money given RAP is depleted?”

The Bulletin asked QPS whether the lease had been renegotiated, how long RAP would stay at Varsity Lakes and what the tenancy cost.

“QPS cannot discuss commercial-in-confidence lease arrangements,” a spokesman replied.

But the QPS confirmed RAP had 98 officers attached to the office and “this staffing model has not changed”.

The QPS denied RAP officers had been transferred to the Coomera station or Surfers Paradise but confirmed police were redeployed to the city’s northern district.

“No RAP positions have been transferred to the Coomera division. RAP has 20 officers comprising two teams working from Coomera headquarters on a temporary deployment which commenced on June 25, 2016,” the spokesman said. “No RAP positions have been transferred to Surfers Paradise.”

Police sources suggest RAP officers have been deployed to the city’s tourism heart, working on shifts during the busier nightclub days from Wednesday through to Sunday.

Bond University criminologist Dr Terry Goldsworthy, a former Coast detective, predicts if more officers are moved from the RAP’s Varsity base it places questions on the value of paying an expensive lease.

“They obviously paid a lot to outfit it as a police building. If you move, go somewhere else, you forgo that. It’s dead money,” Dr Goldsworthy said.

He believes a better working model would be for all RAP officers to be based from Varsity Lakes, which would be the starting and finishing point for their shifts on the road.